FHM Womens Premier Team 2019

The Club’s Women’s 1st team play in the NRFL Premier Division. They have a strong heritage of success and have produced a large number of NZ Age grade representaatives as well as Football Ferns.

The team is coached by Ben Bate.

Bate was also the Club’s Women’s Premier Coach last season and his team performed well considering the very young and inexperienced side. This season the squad will be leveraging on last year's experience are are eying up a strong performance in all competitions, especially the Kate Sheppard Cup when they will have all their Football Ferns Development Squad players available.

Ben has been a part of the NZ U20 men’s team as a technical analyst at the 2015 FIFA U20 World Cup and was technical analyst for the NZ Women’s FIFA U17 World Cup. He was also involved with the Northern National Women’s League team. He has also been in a Football Manager role at St Cuthbert's College. He was also the Assistant Coach of the AFF Women's team that won the National Women's League in 2017.

Prior to arriving in New Zealand he was a technical analyst for the Football Association of Wales’ Women’s teams for 5 years. He began with the U15 development squad before working his way up through the U17, U19 and Senior women’s teams.

As well as this he was also the technical analyst for The New Saints Football Club for 6 years winning several Welsh Premier League, Welsh Cup and Welsh League Cup medals during his time at the club.

He also competed in 4 Champions League and a Europa League qualifying campaign. He has coached since he was 16 at grassroots through to academy level at a number of clubs with both male and female players. He also possesses a Sports Coaching degree and a Master’s degree in Sport and Exercise Science.

Bate said “There is a real depth of talent at the Club and harnessing that talent is going to be exciting. What really encourages me is the Club’s strategy to develop players to international level and to also give them playing opportunities overseas. This is something I firmly believe in.”

Bate promotes a developmental environment, with results coming as a reward rather than the focus. “We go into every game focussed on our performances both individually and collectively,” Bate said.

“Three points is the reward for everyone performing within the team framework, not the focus.” While quiet on the sidelines, the work Bate does behind the scenes is what helps this youthful Forrest Hill side compete with the best week in week out.

Supporting Ben as Team Manager is Club President, Brian Haycock.

This season the team is rebuilding and has exciting young talent coming through the Club's development programmes.

The Women play on Friday nights or Sunday afternoons with their home games played at the Club’s home, Becroft Park.